


Some Kind of Blessing Here

by Vidriana



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic, Domestic Friends With Benefits, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Trade Angst, Mutual Pining, yes that's a tag now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 15:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9662909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/pseuds/Vidriana
Summary: Willy watches as David walks towards him and takes him in. His hair is long and still wet from his shower, so he’s wearing a Bruins cap on his head. He doesn’t look very happy, which is understandable seeing as his team had just lost, but his whole face still lights up when he gets closer to Willy, smiling that crooked smile that Willy loves so much.Likes. That crooked smile that Willy likes so much.Willy scores a hat-trick against Boston and goes home with David afterwards.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the game last Saturday in which Willy had a hatty and Pasta had two goals as well. These two are clearly in love and there need to be more stories about them, so I wrote one!
> 
> There are some mentions of Willy/Kappy and Willy/Auston. They're more implied than anything though, so I didn't tag them.  
> There are also some references to Willy and Pasta having sex when they're teenagers, but not nearly enough to warrant an underage warning. I still wanted to mention it, just in case you really don't want to read that.
> 
> Endless thanks to my wonderful beta [Dell](https://squashyicebabies.tumblr.com/), who helped with the plotting and made my word salad readable!
> 
> The title is from "1,000 Ships" by Rachel Platten, which kind of sets the tone of the story as well. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Willy is in the middle of putting his clothes back on when his phone chimes with a new message. He pauses for moment, but decides to finish first. He’s pretty sure he knows who’s texting him anyway and a couple of minutes won’t make much of a difference, but at the third chime of Willy’s phone, his teammates have apparently decided that even a hat-trick isn’t enough reason not to chirp him.

“Oh, look who’s popular,” Mo says, smirking at Willy from his stall,” Getting a hatty brings all the boys to the yard, huh?”

“More like Willy brings all the boys to the yard,” Naz calls out, as Mitch begins to hum Milkshake, slightly off-key, in the background. “I’m sure they’d be just as happy to console him, if he didn’t score.”

Jake groans. “I can’t believe no one’s made a pun about scoring yet, I’m so disappointed in all of you.”

“Wait, what do you even get for a hatty?” Brownie asks. “I mean, do you sleep with three different people? Do you have a threesome? What’s the standard procedure here?”

“Maybe his boy’s just gonna make him come three times?” Auston suggests, and Brownie’s eyes widen in shock.

“But isn’t that - I mean, wouldn’t that - uhm… That seems like a lot?” he finishes lamely, steadily turning red.

He’s only saved from the following chirping by JvR, who redirects everyone’s attention with a well placed, “Why don’t we ask Auston? How did you celebrate your four goal night, Matts?”

Auston just smiles serenely. “You know I don’t kiss and tell,” he responds, and continues putting on his clothes while the others start to grumble about him being boring.

Willy just smiles to himself and finishes tying his shoes, before fishing his phone out of his bag. He remembers Auston’s four goal night all too well, and it had been amazing to see his usually so collected teammate come apart later that night. Willy hadn’t made him come four times, but he has no idea what happened after he sent Auston on his way, so it might still have happened.

When he finally checks his messages, he isn’t surprised to find that most of them are from Kappy. _Nice hatty, dude! Youre the best_ , the first one says, followed by _When are you coming home so we can celebrate? Or are you gonna see your boyfriend? Happy for you! <3_

Willy rolls his eyes. _He’s not my boyfriend_ , he responds, before opening the third message. It’s from David and it just says _Want to meet?_ and yes, Willy really, really does. He sends back a simple _yes, I’ll come meet you in a minute_ , and switches back to his chat with Kappy. 

The most recent messages from Kappy read _Yeah, keep telling yourself that_ followed by _Have fun!_ with an assortment of suggestive emojis, mostly eggplants and peaches and water drops, followed by a row of winky faces. Willy shakes his head and sends back a string of hearts, before saying goodbye to the guys, and exits the locker room under a chorus of catcalls and whistles.

\-------

Meeting after a game is always a bit awkward when you’ve just finished playing each other, but Willy and David have known each other too long to let a loss ruin their reunion. They see each other rarely enough as it is.

Willy knows it wouldn’t be a good idea to walk by the Bruins’ locker room right now, so he texts David to meet him in the parking garage instead and waits by David’s car. It’s not the best meeting place, because staying here means every single one of Willy’s teammates feels the need to give him knowing looks or ruffle his hair on their way past him to the bus, but that can’t be changed now. 

Just after Bozie had finished completely ruining Willy’s hair for a third time, David finally walks into the parking garage and waves at Willy. Bozie just gives Willy a significant look and says, “Have fun!” before he finally leaves.

Willy watches as David walks towards him and takes him in. His hair is long and still wet from his shower, so he’s wearing a Bruins cap on his head. He doesn’t look very happy, which is understandable seeing as his team had just lost, but his whole face still lights up when he gets closer to Willy, smiling that crooked smile that Willy loves so much.

Likes. That crooked smile that Willy likes so much. 

They’re in public, so they can’t really greet each other like Willy would want to, but he’s still able to pull David down into a hug. They hold on to each other for longer than is probably considered normal, but if anyone sees them it would probably just be attributed to them being weird Europeans.

David whispers, “Congratulations,” lips lightly brushing his ear, and Willy’s stomach feels fluttery and light so he lets go and just smiles at David instead. 

“You should take me home and celebrate with me,” Willy says with a smirk, before he remembers that David had just been on the losing side, and tries to amend, “I mean-”

But David just smiles at him. “I liked it better when you were on my team,” he says, “but I can help you celebrate anyway.”

\-----

The car ride isn’t exactly tense, but expectant. Pasta tells meaningless stories about Boston, about how happy he is to play with Krejci and how he’s starting to get used to the accent, to distract them from the fact that they’re still stuck in a car. 

Willy can’t wait to finally get David behind a closed door. The anticipation always reminds him of the first time they’d seen each other again after being separated, when they could barely keep their hands off each other in public and spent hours getting to know each others’ bodies again later. Willy still remembers the lanky boy he’d fallen into bed with for the first time at seventeen, and how different David looks now. Much broader, more filled out with less baby fat and more muscle. He’s excited to find out how David’s changed compared to the last time they’d seen each other.

When they finally get to David’s apartment he takes a second to be grateful that David doesn’t share his apartment with anyone like Willy does, because the moment they get through the door David is on him. 

He backs Willy up against the closed door and pulls him into a hungry kiss, while working his hands under Willy’s shirt. Willy buries his hand in David’s hair, shorter than it had been, but still considerably longer than most players wear it around here. 

Eventually David breaks the kiss and pushes Willy’s shirt up and over his head, so that his hands have free reign on Willy’s body. Willy reciprocates, unzipping David’s hoodie and letting it fall to the floor, before pulling David back down to his lips. Although the adrenaline from the game had receded somewhat during the car ride, it’s coming back now in full force. 

They push at each other, both trying to take charge and then relenting in turns, because they’ve always been competitive and this is just how they work together. At least until David pushes Willy back so he’s resting his weight against the door completely and starts kissing Willy’s neck. Willy just closes his eyes and enjoys the attention, because he loves this and they both know it.

“You played so good tonight,” David says, in between kisses,“I hate when you score on my team,” he adds, biting down lightly, which makes Willy moan out loud, “But they were beautiful goals. ” 

“Thanks,” Willy gasps out, “you too.” He buries his hand in David’s hair again and uses the other one to pull his whole body closer. “I thought for sure you were gonna—,” he breaks off to suck in a sharp breath when David scrapes his teeth along his neck again, “Gonna get a hatty too.”

“Didn’t wanna steal your…” he pauses and pulls back, a slight frown on his face. “Cloud?” he asks and Willy laughs.

“Thunder,” he corrects between giggles, “Didn’t want to steal my thunder.” David also starts laughing and Willy has missed this so much. How easy it always is with them. How they’ve always been friends first, before anything else, and nothing had ever been able to get in the way of that.

\-----

Afterwards they’re lying in David’s bed, still sweaty and gross, but happy. David is lying on his back, with Willy’s head pillowed on his chest, and it’s probably a weird position for friends, even friends with benefits, but it just feels natural to Willy. Physical closeness has always been their thing, even with all the distance that separates them now.

David keeps running his hands over Willy’s sides, feeling the new muscle definition there and probably marveling at the changes since the last time they’d seen each other.

As if to confirm Willy’s suspicions, he pokes Willy in the stomach and says, “This is different.” 

Willy just hums. “Had a busy off-season. You know they’ve been telling me I need to put on weight.” David has probably heard the same demands, since most young players get told to put on some muscle. 

David just hums in agreement and continues stroking down Willy’s body. It’s comforting and familiar, and Willy feels warm and sated. “I wish we were still on the same team,” David says after a minute of comfortable silence. “Then I could see you more often. This is nice, ” he adds, almost thoughtful. Then, with a mischievous grin, “You should come to Boston.” He reaches out and runs a hand through Willy’s hair. “You could even grow your hair again.” He tugs lightly at Willy’s now much shorter hair to prove his point.

Willy snorts. “What, you don’t like my hair like this?” he asks, mock offended. David grins at him.

“Don’t worry, you’re still the prettiest boy I know,” he reassures jokingly and leans down to kiss Willy again, lazy and languid. Willy’s happy to just let himself be kissed and complimented.

“Still wish you were on my team,” David says again, “I like having you here.” He lays a soft kiss on Willy’s shoulder and settles back down, hands rubbing along Willy’s hips slowly, just seeking contact without any ulterior motive.

Willy shuffles around uncomfortably. “Well, if you have a right-shot defenseman you’d like to trade, I’m sure I could come here,” he says, and even though he had intended for it to be a joke, it comes out bitter. David pauses, a hand on Willy’s thigh. 

“They’re not gonna trade you,” he says, sounding completely sure. “They’re not that stupid.” 

Willy just shrugs, suddenly feeling a bit cold. “You don’t know that,” he says, refusing to look at David. He shouldn’t have brought it up. There’s no need to ruin the little time they have together with his insecurities. “Hey, we should get some food,” he says, just to change the topic, and untangles himself from David. It’s a bit late for food already, but they both played a game today. 

He gets off the bed and looks around for his clothes. He can feel David look at him while he puts his briefs back on, but he doesn’t turn around. Finally David seems to decide to drop the subject, because he sighs and then the creaking of the bed tells Willy that he’s also getting dressed.

“I don’t think I have food,” David says suddenly and Willy bursts out laughing, any awkwardness between them successfully defeated. 

“Of course you don’t,” Willy says, still laughing and David shrugs sheepishly.

“We had a road trip,” is his defense, “I didn’t want things to go bad while I was gone.”

Willy just grins at him and tells him to order takeout.

They both end up sitting at David’s kitchen table and eating pizza in the middle of the night, which is not really approved by anyone’s diet plan but a nice treat anyway, when Willy says, “Hey, can I crash here tonight? I have to be back for practice tomorrow, but I can do whatever I want until then.” David’s face lights up at the suggestion.

“Of course, you’re always welcome here,” he says and smiles at Willy with that open, earnest smile that Willy has always loved so much. Liked so much. Whatever. 

Willy smiles at him as well and then steals a slice of David’s pizza. 

When they go back to bed later, David pulls Willy close, spooning up behind him, and Willy has a moment before he falls asleep where he wishes it could always be like this. He’s warm and comfortable and he can feel David’s breath against his naked shoulder. He couldn’t think of a single place he’d rather be, or anyone else he’d rather be with.

\-----

Willy wakes up lying half on top of David, with David’s hair in his face. David is still sleeping and Willy takes a moment to take him in. They’re about halfway through the season now and it’s easy to see that the games have already taken a toll on David. There are some new scrapes on his face and a couple of slowly fading bruises cover his torso. He’s already lost quite a bit of his off-season bulk as well, but he doesn’t look exhausted, which is good. 

Willy rolls off of him and decides to be a gracious guest and make some breakfast. He walks to the kitchen in just his briefs and thankfully finds some eggs in the fridge. 

That’s how David finds him a bit later, standing in front of the stove half-naked and frying some eggs. Willy can feel David pause in the kitchen doorway for a second to watch him, but Willy doesn’t turn around to greet him. He only acknowledges David when he wraps his arms around Willy’s stomach and lays a soft kiss on his neck. “Good morning,” Willy says softly, and David presses his face into his hair.

“The best morning,” he responds, and Willy can’t suppress a smile. 

“You need to let me go, or I’ll burn our breakfast,” he says and nudges David lightly. David takes the hint, detaches himself and starts setting the table already. 

“Thank you,” he says with a smile when Willy transfers some of the eggs on his plate and Willy’s stomach feels fluttery when he smiles in response. This is one of those things again. Something that should feel weird, too close, too much, but that just feels natural for them. 

David takes a bite and makes an appreciative sound. “When did you learn to cook?” he asks and Willy throws a napkin at him. 

“See if I make you breakfast again,” Willy threatens, before also digging in. David just laughs at him.

“I wish we could do this more often,” Willy says, when they’ve both finished and are putting away the dishes. “I mean,” he adds, “it’s never like this with anyone else.” It’s the truth, but it still somehow feel like a big admission. 

It’s the kind of comment they usually joke about, chirp each other about how special their relationship is, but when David responds he sounds serious. “You know, I used to dream about this sometimes,” he starts. “Both of us together in the NHL, playing hockey together, living together…” He trails off. 

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Willy agrees, looking down at the floor. This sounds an awful lot like what he’d wanted as well, back in Sweden, when he and David had spent every waking moment together and quite a few nights as well. Back when he’d been young and stupid and in love with his best friend. 

He’d never told David, because… why would he? What they’d had back then was good and uncomplicated, and what they have now is just as good. It’s just that when David says things like this, how he’d also dreamed about them doing this together, Willy can’t help but wonder what would have happened.

“But you do that with Kapanen now, right?” David says and it sounds uncharacteristically harsh. It’s also not really true.

“Kappy lives with me, but we’re not even on the same team. It’s different,” Willy responds, taken aback.

“But you sleep with him,” David says, and it sounds accusatory somehow, which is just absolutely not his place. Willy is honestly surprised by this turn of events.

“We have sex sometimes, if that’s what you mean. He’s just my friend though,” he argues and adds, “Just like you are.” Even though that doesn’t sound right to him.

The fight goes out of David so fast, it’s almost visible. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Sorry,” he says quietly, looking small and unhappy and Willy hates seeing him like this. Maybe that’s what gives him the courage to finally say it, or maybe it’s just that it’s been years and he just needs to know now.

“I’d stop if you asked me,” he says quietly, and David’s head snaps up and he stares at Willy like he’s never seen him before. 

“What?” he asks, sounding disbelieving, and part of Willy wants to hide and take everything back, but he didn’t get where he is today by being a coward.

“I’d stop sleeping with Kappy if you asked me to,” he says more firmly. “With the others, too.” He looks up and meets David’s wide eyes. “Do you want that from me?”

David still hasn’t said anything and Willy’s starting to feel cold. There’s an uncomfortable sinking feeling in his stomach, and he starting to wish he hadn’t eaten so much breakfast. Then David suddenly unfreezes and comes over to Willy with fast, long steps. Before Willy has the chance to say anything else, David grabs his chin and kisses him desperately.

Their mouth are pressed together so hard it almost hurts, but all Willy can feel is relief. When David finally breaks away from him it’s only to whisper, “Yes, I… Please!” before capturing Willy’s mouth again. Willy feels so light he could float away. He grabs David’s shoulders and just holds on. 

Eventually the kiss turns softer, losing some of the urgency, before David finally pulls back. He’s smiling when he looks at Willy. “I thought—,” he starts, “I didn’t know— I…” He trails off, but Willy knows what he’s trying to say anyway. They’ve always understood each other. 

“I didn’t know either,” Willy says, “I thought you just wanted us to be friends.” David gives him an incredulous look.

“I keep telling you I want to live with you. I told you I dreamed of us always being together,” he says and okay, in hindsight that seems kind of obvious.

“I mean, I just wasn’t sure,” Willy stutters out, feeling his face go hot. David laughs, loud and delighted, before he grabs Willy’s face with both hands and looks into his eyes.

“I’ve been in love with you since we were teenagers,” he says gently, “and now I want to finally date you. Is that okay?”

Willy’s whole face is probably bright red, but he doesn’t even care. “Yes, I’d like that very much,” he responds and smiles at David as well. “And just so we’re clear,” he adds, “I love you, too.”  
The resulting smile is a little bit crooked, but so open in the way that Willy likes. Loves. The way that Willy loves.

\-----

Unfortunately their time together is limited, because they both have practice and Willy needs to fly out to New York soon. Nevertheless, when they say their goodbyes this time, it’s with soft kisses and smiles and promises to see each other soon. Thankfully David’s bye week is coming up soon and they’ll have some time together then. 

Willy still feels warm and happy inside when he gets into a cab and he’s pretty sure Naz is going to chirp him for the stupid expression on his face, but he can’t help it. He pulls out his phone and opens his chat with Kappy. He hesitates briefly before writing _I think I have a boyfriend now_ and sending it.

The response he gets only a minute later is _You finally told him?!_ followed by a long line of multicolored hearts and _Proud of you!_ Willy smiles down at his phone. He really couldn’t be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story! If you did, please feel free to come scream about baby Leafs or Pasta or hockey in general with me on my [Tumblr](https://vidrianah.tumblr.com)!


End file.
